Dead Man's Grip

like the wheel. Backwards for a second. Then sideways again. Sucking those blinding lights towards her as if she were a magnet.
    Closer.
    The horn even louder, shaking her eardrums.
    Lights burning into her retinas.
    Then a jarring impact. A clanging metallic boom like two giant oil drums swinging into each other.
    In the silence that followed, Ricky’s voice came through her phone. ‘Hey, babe? Fernanda? Sis? Babe? Listen, you OK? Babe? Babe? Listen, we’re cool. Listen, babe!’
    But she could no longer hear him.

81
    ‘You’ve really upset my wife,’ Lou Revere said. ‘She’s pretty distressed already and so am I. I don’t know what you thought you’d achieve by coming, but we don’t want you here. You’re not welcome in our house.’ He stabbed his cigar at her. ‘I’m gonna show you out.’
    ‘Please just give me a chance,’ Carly said, her desperation making her sound on the verge of tears.
    ‘You had your chance, lady, when you were deciding whether to get into your automobile drunk or not. That’s more chance than my son had.’
    ‘It wasn’t like that, Mr Revere. Please believe me. It wasn’t like that.’
    He stopped and for a moment Carly thought he was going to relent. Then he stabbed his cigar in even greater fury. ‘Sure it wasn’t like that, lady. We’ve had the toxicology report on our son from your police. He had nothing in him. Not one drop of alcohol, not one trace of any drug.’ He lowered his head like a bull about to charge. ‘How was your toxicology report? Huh? You wanna tell me how your toxicology report read? Tell me. I’m listening. You got my full attention.’
    They faced each other in silence. Carly was trying desperately to find a way through to him. But he scared her. It was as if beneath his skin there was something venomous and feral. Outwardly he might be playing the role of a grieving father, but there was something truly chilling about him. She had met difficult people in her time, she’d had to deal with deep dislike, but she had never encountered anyone like Lou Revere. It felt as if she was in the presence of total, inhuman evil.
    ‘I’m listening,’ he repeated. ‘I’m not hearing anything, but I’m listening.’
    ‘I think maybe I should come back tomorrow,’ she replied. ‘Can I do that?’
    He took another step towards her, quivering. ‘You come back,’ he said. ‘You come back – if you dare come within one hundred miles of my home, I’ll tear you apart with these.’ He held up his trembling hands. ‘You understand what I’m saying?’
    Carly nodded, her mouth dry.
    He pointed. ‘That’s the way out.’
    Moments after she stepped out into the night, the front door slammed behind her.

82
    It seemed only moments after he had fallen asleep that Roy Grace was woken by the sound of his phone ringing and vibrating.
    He rolled over, reaching out for the flashing display in the darkness. The clock beside it said 1.37 a.m.
    ‘It’s OK. I’m awake,’ said Cleo, a tad grumpily.
    He switched on his bedside light, grabbed the phone and hit the green button. ‘Yurrr?’
    It was Duncan Crocker. ‘You awake, boss?’
    It was a dumb question, Grace thought. Did Detective Sergeant Crocker know many people who were capable of answering a phone in their sleep? He slid out of bed and tripped over Humphrey, who responded with a startled yelp. He dropped the phone and grabbed the side of the bed, just managing to stop himself falling flat on his face on the floor. He retrieved the phone.
    ‘Hang on, Duncan.’
    Wearing only the T-shirt he’d been sleeping in, he padded out of the room, accompanied by the dog, which jumped up excitedly, its sharp claws digging painfully into his leg.
    ‘Down, boy!’ he hissed, closing the door behind him.
    Humphrey raced down the staircase, barking, then ran back up and launched himself at Grace’s crotch.
    Crocking the phone under his ear and protecting himself with his hands, he said, ‘Be with you in a sec, Duncan. Down! Humphrey, off, off!’
    He went downstairs, followed by a madly barking Humphrey, switched the lights on, moved a copy of Sussex Life that was open at the property pages – Cleo had suddenly gone into house-hunting mode – and sat on a sofa. Humphrey jumped on to the cushion beside him. Stroking him, trying to keep the dog quiet, Grace said, ‘Sorry about that. What’s up?’
    ‘You asked me to let you know as soon as we found the lorry, boss.’
    ‘You’ve found it? You’re